which would be looked for with the most
earnestness. However, it has been accepted by the jury. Now he
says he only thinks so. There is another matter to consider.
I have been sworn to, I believe, by some of the witnesses who
have also sworn to others, though some of them can prove they
were in another city altogether--in Liverpool. Others have an
overwhelming _alibi_, and I should by right have been tried
with them; but I suppose your lordships cannot help that.
We have, for instance, Thomas, the policeman, who swore to
another prisoner. He identified him on a certain day, and
the prisoner was not arrested for two days afterwards. As for
Thomas, I do not presume that any jury could have believed
him. He had heard of the blood-money, and of course was
prepared to bid pretty high for it. My _alibi_ has not been
strong, and unfortunately I was not strong in pocket, and was
not able to produce more testimony to prove where I was at
exactly that time. With regard to the unfortunate man who
has lost his life, I sympathize with him and his family as
deeply as your lordships or the jury, or anyone in the court.
I deeply regret the unfortunate occurrence, but I am as
perfectly innocent of his blood as any man. I never had the
slightest intention of taking life. I have done nothing at
all in connection with that man, and I do not desire to be
accused of a murder which I have not committed. With regard to
another matter, my learned counsel has, no doubt for the best,
expressed some opinions on these matters and the misgovernment
to which my country has been subjected. I am firmly convinced
there is prejudice in the minds of the people, and it has been
increased and excited by the newspapers, or by some of them,
and to a certain extent has influenced the minds of the jury
to convict the men standing in this dock, on a charge of
which--a learned gentleman remarked a few nights since--they
would be acquitted if they had been charged with murdering
an old woman for the sake of the money in her pocket, but a
political offence of this kind they could not. Now, sir, with
regard to the opinions I hold on national matters--with regard
to those men who have been released from that van, in which,
unfortunately, life was lost, I am of opinion that certainly
to some extent there was an excess